Workers began installing AstroTurf Monday morning on the storm damaged fields. Once that process is complete, they will cover the turf with finely chopped rubber and paint foul lines and other playing marks on the field.

Despite that progress towards making the hurricane-damaged fields playable again, Battery Park City Authority spokesman Matthew Monahan said the Authority cannot commit to the fields being ready by the April 1 opening of the Downtown Little League season. Barring possible delays due to inclement weather, the fields would reopen sometime during April, he said.

“Seeing the green turf is a major milestone,” Monahan said, “but it shouldn't be confused with, We're getting ready to play.”

Workers last week leveled and smoothed the gravel underlying the surface of the fields in preparation for the turf installation. Surveyors used lasers to check the slope of the field for proper drainage, and workers filled crevices to even out low spots, Monahan said.

Beneath the green carpet are white squares of padding, most of it cleaned and reused from the original field. And below that is a black mesh filter that has been rolled out over the gravelly surface.

After nearly two months of damage assessments following the storm, the BPCA determined that the field’s artificial turf, installed in mid-2011, was damaged beyond repair. But the mesh fabric underneath the turf, which is being cleaned and reused, held up. The field’s drainage system also did not require replacement, according to Monahan.